


still ain't over you

by mearcats



Series: home is wherever i'm with you [1]
Category: ER (TV 1994)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Or A Stupid Ending...because they're idiots who don't know how to talk, they will. just not today.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 05:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18564970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mearcats/pseuds/mearcats
Summary: Abby and Luka end up stuck together in Lockdown instead of Abby and Carter, and it may change the trajectory of their relationship forever.





	still ain't over you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kt_anansi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kt_anansi/gifts).



> This is from a tumblr prompt! I accept prompts there or here, so feel free to hit me up.

 

Abby gets the feeling that something is wrong the second time she walks past the waiting room and sees the family, their children still covered in blankets. It’s August, for crying out loud. She bumps them ahead in the line of patients, hoping whichever doctor she finds will back her up.

As soon as they’re back in the exam room and they remove the blankets, she hurries to find someone. She winces a little when she sees Luka before anyone else. Not that he’s not great, obviously, but things have been...off...between them lately, ever since he helped her move back to her place. She’s not entirely sure what it is, but she’s been avoiding him a little because of it.

If things continue at this rate, the only doctor she won’t be awkward around will be Susan.

Shaking her head, she says, “I, uh, I admitted a family into Exam 1, and you  _need_  to see them. It’s...it’s nothing I’ve seen before, Luka.”

He gives her a long look and seems on the verge of saying something, but then merely nods and follows her.

&&&

It happens quickly after that. Luka sees the patients and puts them in isolation, but it’s too late. The CDC comes and tells them it’s likely they’re at most risk of exposure, so they’re quarantined, her, Luka, Chen, Pratt, and Stan.

Susan and Carter stare through the window, aggrieved, but there’s not much they can do, so they go away after a short chat through the glass.

It’s going to be a long two weeks.

&&&

Abby manages to avoid Luka for the first couple of days, more or less. They’re focused on making sure Chen, Pratt, and Stan are okay and hardly have a minute to breathe. Then it becomes clear that Chen and Pratt just have the flu, and Stan isn’t down with anything other than delirium tremens. She can feel Luka’s gaze lingering on her when they finally get Stan talking.

They retreat in tense silence to the room they’re sleeping in. Last night, they’d collapsed in their beds from sheer exhaustion, but unfortunately, she’s wide awake now. He is, too.

The uneasy quiet lasts until Luka clears his throat. “Abby?”

“Yeah?”

“I...I don’t want to make you upset, but I have a question.”

“If you don’t want to make me upset, then why have you been avoiding me?” The question slips out before Abby can stop it, and they just stare at each other, taken aback.

“I...what?” Luka asks helplessly.

Her brow furrows, and she looks down at her feet. “I just...things have been weird since I moved out of your place.”

He runs his hand through his already disheveled hair. “I know.”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“God, Luka.  _Why_  have things been weird?”

Still, he hesitates. Finally, he takes a deep breath and begins, “After I helped you move in, after Carter came by...the next day he came and told me that I was hurting you. That you’re an alcoholic and I was, I don’t know, enabling you.”

 _Oh_.

“I didn’t know,” he continued. “I just...it makes sense. But you never told me, and we we were dating for almost a year.”

Abby avoids his gaze, even as she turns red as a tomato. “I—I didn’t know how to tell you at first, honestly. And then, I...I didn’t want you to think less of me. You’re not exactly warm and comforting with alcoholic patients.”

“But you told Carter.”

“Is that what this is about?” She raises her eyebrows, then shakes her head. “Never mind. Carter...he joined AA right around when we started dating. I was his sponsor, so of course we talked. It was easier, because he was going through the same thing.”

He reaches for her hand, stopping a hair’s breadth away. “I wouldn’t have thought less of you.”

“Well, you weren’t exactly easy to talk to,” she spits out. She wishes she could take it back instantly, as soon the hurt etches itself into the lines of his face.

Luka swallows, then nods. “I know. And I’m sorry. I...I’ve been trying.”

Something in her softens. “You—I’ve noticed.”

Taking a deep breath, he seems to be searching for words. “I—I, uh, I’m trying for you. Because you deserve better.”

She sits there, stunned. “But we broke up. You broke up with me.”

“And I regretted it ever since, Abby.”

“Oh.” There’s so much she needs to say, so many things she needs to process. Honestly, there’s so much more they have to address, both of them.

But she misses him. She’s scared, but so is he, and yet he’s here making himself vulnerable. For  _her_.

She can do this. She can set aside the hurt, the worry, the fear, at least until they can deal with it a little better. What she feels for him is bigger than what’s holding her back.

What she can’t do is leave him hanging.

Abby stands, walks over to wear he’s sitting on his own cot. Stepping between his legs, she cups his face in her hands, pressing her forehead to his. He inhales sharply, her name a gasp on his lips before she kisses him hungrily.

It only takes a fraction of a second before he responds, pulling her onto his lap. They really do need to talk, she thinks dimly, and then she loses herself in the pleasure of just being with him again.

Later. They’ll have later.


End file.
